The Anedi
The Anedi - The Cold-Hearted Ones ;..........Lore..........; The Anedi, or as they are called in their native tongue, Iq-yak, started out as human nomads who wandered the cold plains of Ellador , trying to survive the harsh weather. Many of the human nomads died, but some survived. These survivors decided that they would not let the land control them, but that it was them who should control the land. The nomads, who now called themselves Iq-yak, which roughly translates into the Cold-Hearted Ones, started trying to overcome the land. They settled down and built small villages where they put themselves through painful, and sometimes deadly, trials. Some of the trials they went through have been documented by an unknown author. Here is an excerpt from one of these journals; Day 21: Today the village elder gathered the entire village on the shore near the icy sea. There were some sort of equipment standing there. There was a machine that consisted of a treelog attached to two gears. When one of the men showed how it worked, he started winding the machine up. As the log spun I noticed there were thin, ropelike pieces of leather attached to the log. One of the children shouted out to his mother and pointed at the sea. Everyone looked and saw a man coming out of the water, a man whose skin was cracking and blue as the water. The man stood infront of the machine within the reach of the leather whips and the man holding the lever let go, and the machine started whipping the man, who only stood there, not even making a sound. The elder explained that by bathing in the ice cold water they would learn to endure, and teach their body how cold it should be, and by whipping themselves they stimulated the bloodflow and making sure that the body would not die during the trials... As you could guess, this trial was most painful, but the villagers endured, and after generations of self-torture results could be seen. The skin of newborns was more blue and colder to the touch. The Anedi, living in the cold, barren tundras of Ellador had great difficulty growing crops, and had to seek nourishment from other sources. One day, a man of the village was sitting watching the sheep try to survive the harsh weather, when a terrible thought came to him; What if all our food would run out? The man started thinking about what could be eaten other than sheep. As he paced back and forth with the snow crunching beneath his feet, he thought; What if one could live of the snow? He went to the current village elder with his thought, and the village elder answered that snow is natural, so it should contain some nutrients. The elder told the people that their search for a new food source is over, and the elder explained to them that by eating the snow they could learn their bodies to survive on it. So each villager started every meal by eating the weight of their food in snow. This also continued for generations alongside the self-torture until the Anedi has accomplished their goal; they had bested the harsh weather of Ellador. As a result of their determination to surive, they managed to transform themselves into something else. Their skin was icy blue and cold. They had learned to live of the very snow itself. An excerpt from the book Creatures of Ellador - Myth or Reality? ''describes the physical aspect of the Anedi race. Here it is; ''If I told you that there existed creatures made from snow and ice, and said that they lived not in caves, but villages... would you have believed me? Unless you are a crazy person, I doubt it. But I have seen these creatures wandering the frozen tundras eating the snow. Some scholars have tried to discredit me by saying that what I saw was nothing more than a crazy homeless person trying to survive, but I still continued my research. I searched the tundras looking for these villages, but I found nothing. I was about to quit and return home when a blizzard struck. I foolishly attempted to navigate through the ice-cold storm for some time, but eventually my body started to give up. I tried to remain conscious but it was getting more and more difficult. I collapsed in the snow, and felt the life leaving me. This was when I felt something grab me and lift me up. I didn't know something had grabbed me because I felt the warmth of their body, but because I felt their fingers. I couldn't help it anymore, so I passed out... When I awoke I got a cold sensation running through my body. I sat up and noticed I had been lying on a bed made of ice, sure, there was some sheepskin on the bed, but I only assumed that was for its softness and not its warmth. I appeared to be in an igloo, and as I rose up someone came through the door (or hole to be more precise, since there wasn't anything to cover the entrance). The creature that came through the door had skin light blue almost like someone who had been left in the snow for to long, and that was when I realised what was standing infront of me. It had to be one of the Anedi. Yes, the completely teal/blue-ish eyes, the light blue skin covered with ice and snow, the obvious lack of protective clothing (other than around the private parts...). I couldn't believe it! I always knew they were real, but I'm not going to lie, I had my doubts sometimes. The Anedi who entered the igloo was staring at me like he had never seen anything like it before. I greeted the creature, but he did not respond, he just backed slowly out of the igloo. I heard some words, or grunts really, outside the igloo. When the grunting was finished another anedi(atleast I think it was another anedi, I can't really tell the difference between them) came into the igloo and said: I understand if you are shocked, but please try to remain calm. I asked the anedi how he learned to speak common, and he answered that he wanted to forge alliances with the humans, so he learned to speak their tongue. He led me out of the igloo and we took a walk around the village. I saw children conjure snow to throw at their friends and adults running like the wind through the snow. I asked the anedi for his name. He looked at me and told me that he had no name, that no anedi does. He said that they do not require names to differ each other. I asked him, quite rudely, what they eat. He simply answered snow. He explained that his ancestors ate the snow of the land and got their bodies used to living only on snow. Over time their inner organs turned to ice, or something like ice, and now snow is the only thing they can eat. I asked about what the children did, and he said that the ability to break down snow into energy could be reversed, so they could turn energy from themselves into snow. This allows the anedi to share food with other anedi even when there is no snow nearby. I also asked him why him and his people only live in the snow, and like all the other questions, he had an answer to this one as well. He said that the reason that they live in the snow is because they have grown dependant on it, and without it they can't survive for very long. He said that the anedi grow restlessly hungry when they are not where it is cold... //Professor Erwind Truthbearer Over time the Anedi started expanding to create bigger villages, they went from living in igloos to living in houses. They started wearing clothing, albeit primitive clothing... but still. There are three types of Anedi: The first type is the Iq-dah Anedi(pronounced: Ikk-daa), which are the most civilized of the Anedi. The live in wooden or stone houses, their villages have clearly marked roads and each village have their own local government. This is the only type of Anedi who willingly will move into a city where there are other races. The second type is the Taak-vag Anedi(pronounced: TaaK-vaag), who are not as civilized as their Iq-dah brethren. The still live in houses, even though most houses are made of snow and ice. They live in small villages where they know everyone. They do not approve of outsiders. The third and final type is Var-gah Anedi(pronounced: Var-gaa), and these anedi are not to be messed with. They are savages who never stopped torturing themselves. These anedi are only ever happy when they are fighting, and when they are not fighting, if they are not looking for another fight, they are torturing themselves to become more evolved. They are easily identified by their dark blue or black eyes. ;..........Race Information..........; *'Name: ' Anedi *'Type: ' Ice/Snow Humanoid *'Natural Environment:' Ice plains & Taiga *'Place of Origin:' Ellador *'Physical Traits:' Light blue skin with ice/snow forming on it. Completely teal/blue-ish eyes. No eye white. All internal organs composed entirely out of organic ice. White hair. Category:Undiscovered Races